T.
Footnote 1:
This letter and the version of the
114th Psalm
are by Dr Isaac Watts, who was at this time 38 years old, broken down by an attack of illness, and taking rest and change with his friend
Sir
Thomas Abney, at Theobalds. Isaac Watts, the son of a Nonconformist schoolmaster at Southampton, had injured his health by excessive study. After acting for a time as tutor to the son of
Sir
John Hartupp, he preached his first sermon in 1698, and three years later became pastor of the Nonconformist congregation in Mark Lane. By this office he abided, and with
Sir
Thomas Abney also he abided; his visit to Theobalds, in 1712, being, on all sides, so agreeable that he stayed there for the remaining 36 years of his life. There he wrote his
Divine and Moral Songs
for children, his
Hymns
, and his metrical version of the
Psalms
. But his
Horæ Lyricæ
, published in 1709, had already attracted much attention when he contributed this Psalm to the
Spectator
. In the Preface to that collection of
Poems chiefly of the Lyric kind, in Three Books, sacred, I. to Devotion and Piety. II. To Virtue, Honour, and Friendship. III. To the Memory of the Dead,
he had argued that Poesy, whose original is divine, had been desecrated to the vilest purpose, enticed unthinking youth to sin, and fallen into discredit among some weaker Christians. 'They submit indeed to use it in divine psalmody, but they love the driest translation of the Psalms best.' Watts bade them look into their Bibles and observe the boldness of its poetic imagery, rejected the dictum of Boileau, that
De la foy d'un Chrétien les mystères terriblesD'ornemens egayéz ne sont point susceptibles;
and pointed to the way he had chosen for himself as a Biblical rhymer. Poesy, he reminds his readers, is, as his title indicates, not the business of his life.
'And if I seized those hours of leisure, wherein my soul was in a more sprightly frame, to entertain them or myself with a divine or moral song, I hope I shall find an easy pardon.'
Watts died in 1748, aged 74.
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2:
Written in jest, but 'The Famous Spanish Blacking for Gentlemen's Shoes,' and 'The famous Bavarian Red Liquor which gives such a delightful blushing colour to the cheeks,' had long been advertised in the
Spectator
.
return
Contents
Nil ego prætulerem Jucundo sanus amico.Hor.translation
People are not aware of the very great Force which Pleasantry in Company has upon all those with whom a Man of that Talent converses. His Faults are generally overlooked by all his Acquaintance, and a certain Carelessness that constantly attends all his Actions, carries him on with greater Success, than Diligence and Assiduity does others who have no Share of this Endowment.
Dacinthus
breaks his Word upon all Occasions both trivial and important; and when he is sufficiently railed at for that abominable Quality, they who talk of him end with,
After all he is a very pleasant Fellow. Dacinthus
is an ill-natured Husband, and yet the very Women end their Freedom of Discourse upon this Subject,
But after all he is very pleasant Company.
Dacinthus
is neither in point of Honour, Civility, good Breeding, or good Nature unexceptionable, and yet all is answered,
For he is a very pleasant Fellow.
When this Quality is conspicuous in a Man who has, to accompany it, manly and virtuous Sentiments, there cannot certainly be any thing which can give so pleasing Gratification as the Gaiety of such a Person; but when it is alone, and serves only to gild a Crowd of ill Qualities, there is no Man so much to be avoided as your pleasant Fellow. A very pleasant Fellow shall turn your good Name to a Jest, make your Character contemptible, debauch your Wife or Daughter, and yet be received by the rest of the World with Welcome where-ever he appears. It is very ordinary with those of this Character to be attentive only to their own Satisfactions, and have very little Bowels for the Concerns or Sorrows of other Men; nay, they are capable of purchasing their own Pleasures at the Expence of giving Pain to others. But they who do not consider this sort of Men thus carefully, are irresistibly exposed to his Insinuations. The Author of the following Letter carries the Matter so high, as to intimate that the Liberties of
England
have been at the Mercy of a Prince merely as he was of this pleasant Character.
Mr. Spectator,'There is no one Passion which all Mankind so naturally give into as Pride, nor any other Passion which appears in such different Disguises: It is to be found in all Habits and all Complexions. Is it not a Question, whether it does more Harm or Good in the World? And if there be not such a Thing as what we may call a virtuous and laudable Pride?'It is this Passion alone, when misapplyed, that lays us so open to Flatterers; and he who can agreeably condescend to sooth our Humour or Temper, finds always an open Avenue to our Soul; especially if the Flatterer happen to be our Superior.'One might give many Instances of this in a lateEnglishMonarch, under the Title of,The Gayeties of KingCharles II. This Prince was by Nature extreamly familiar, of very easie Access, and much delighted to see and be seen; and this happy Temper, which in the highest Degree gratified his Peoples Vanity, did him more Service with his loving Subjects than all his other Virtues, tho' it must be confessed he had many. He delighted, tho' a mighty King, to give and take a Jest, as they say; and a Prince of this fortunate Disposition, who were inclined to make an ill Use of his Power, may have any thing of his People, be it never so much to their Prejudice. But this good King made generally a very innocent Use, as to the Publick, of this ensnaring Temper; for, 'tis well known, he pursued Pleasure more than Ambition: He seemed to glory in being the first Man at Cock-matches, Horse-races, Balls, and Plays; he appeared highly delighted on those Occasions, and never failed to warm and gladden the Heart of every Spectator. He more than once dined with his good Citizens ofLondonon their Lord-Mayor's Day, and did so the Year thatSirRobert Vinerwas Mayor.SirRobertwas a very loyal Man, and, if you will allow the Expression, very fond of his Sovereign; but what with the Joy he felt at Heart for the Honour done him by his Prince, and thro' the Warmth he was in with continual toasting Healths to the Royal Family, his Lordship grew a little fond of his Majesty, and entered into a Familiarity not altogether so graceful in so publick a Place. The King understood very well how to extricate himself on all kinds of Difficulties, and with an Hint to the Company to avoid Ceremony, stole off and made towards his Coach, which stood ready for him inGuild-HallYard: But the Mayor liked his Company so well, and was grown so intimate, that he pursued him hastily, and catching him fast by the Hand, cryed out with a vehement Oath and Accent,Sir, You shall stay and take t'other Bottle. The airy Monarch looked kindly at him over his Shoulder, and with a Smile and graceful Air, (for I saw him at the Time, and do now)repeatedthis Line of the old Song;He that's drunk is as great as a King.and immediatelyturned1back and complied with his Landlord.I give you this Story, Mr. SPECTATOR, because, as I said, I saw the Passage; and I assure you it's very true, and yet no common one; and when I tell you the Sequel, you will say I have yet a better Reason for't.Thisvery Mayor afterwards erected a Statue of his merry Monarch inStocks-Market2, and did the Crown many and great Services; and it was owing to this Humour of the King, that his Family had so great a Fortune shut up in the Exchequer of their pleasant Sovereign. The many good-natured Condescensions of this Prince are vulgarly known: anditis excellently said of him by a great Hand which writ his Character,That he was not a King a Quarter of an Hour together in his whole Reign3. He would receive Visits even from Fools and half Mad-men, and at Times I have met with People who have Boxed, fought at Back-sword, and taken Poison before KingCharlesII. In a Word, he was so pleasant a Man, that no one could be sorrowful under his Government. This made him capable of baffling, with the greatest Ease imaginable, all Suggestions of Jealousie, and the People could not entertain Notions of any thing terrible in him, whom they saw every way agreeable. This Scrap of the familiar Part of that Prince's History I thought fit to send you, in compliance to the Request you lately made to your Correspondents.I am,Sir,Your most humble Servant.
He that's drunk is as great as a King.
T.
Footnote 1:
return'd
return to footnote mark
Footnote 2:
Stocks-market, upon the site of which the Mansion House was built in 1738, received its name from a pair of stocks erected near it as early as the year 1281.
Sir
Robert Viner here erected, in 1675, his white marble statue of Charles II., that he bought a bargain at Leghorn. It was a statue of John Sobieski trampling on a Turk, which had been left on the sculptor's hands, but his worship the Mayor caused a few alterations to be made for the conversion of Sobieski into Charles, and the Turk (still with a turban on his head) into Oliver Cromwell. After the building of the Mansion House this statue lay as lumber in an inn yard till, in 1779, the Corporation gave it to a descendant of the Mayor, who had the reason above given for reverencing Charles II.
return
Footnote 3:
Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham.
return
Contents
Omnia quæ sensu volvuntur vota diurnoPectore sopito reddit amica quies.Venator defessa toro cùm membra reponitMens tamen ad sylvas et sua lustra redit.Judicibus lites, aurigis somnia currus,Vanaque nocturnis meta cavetur equis.Me quoque Musarum studium sub nocte silentiArtibus assuetis sollicitare solet.Claud.translation
I was lately entertaining my self with comparing
Homer's
Ballance, in which
Jupiter
is represented as weighing the Fates of
Hector
and
Achilles
, with a Passage of
Virgil
, wherein that Deity is introduced as weighing the Fates of
Turnus
and
Æneas
. I then considered how the same way of thinking prevailed in the Eastern Parts of the World, as in those noble Passages of Scripture, wherein we are told, that the great King of
Babylon
the Day before his Death, had been weighed in the Ballance, and been found wanting. In other Places of the Holy Writings, the Almighty is described as weighing the Mountains in Scales, making the Weight for the Winds, knowing the Ballancings of the Clouds, and in others, as weighing the Actions of Men, and laying their Calamities together in a Ballance.
Milton
, as I
have
observed in a former Paper, had an Eye to several of these foregoing Instances, in that beautiful Description
1
wherein he represents the Arch-Angel and the Evil Spirit as addressing themselves for the Combat, but parted by the Ballance which appeared in the Heavens and weighed the Consequences of such a Battel.
Th' Eternal to prevent such horrid frayHung forth in Heav'n his golden Scales, yet seenBetwixt Astrea and the Scorpion Sign,Wherein all things created first he weigh'd,The pendulous round Earth with ballanc'd AirIn counterpoise, now ponders all events,Battels and Realms; in these he puts two weightsThe sequel each of parting and of fight,The latter quick up flew, and kickt the Beam:WhichGabrielspying, thus bespake the Fiend.Satan,I know thy Strength, and thou know'st mine,Neither our own, but giv'n; what folly thenTo boast what Arms can do, since thine no moreThan Heav'n permits; nor mine, though doubled nowTo trample thee as mire: For proof look up,And read thy Lot in yon celestial SignWhere thou art weigh'd, and shewn how light, how weak,If thou resist. The Fiend look'd up, and knewHis mounted Scale aloft; nor more, but fledMurm'ring, and with him fled the Shades of Night.
These several amusing Thoughts having taken Possession of my Mind some time before I went to sleep, and mingling themselves with my ordinary Ideas, raised in my Imagination a very odd kind of Vision. I was, methought, replaced in my Study, and seated in my Elbow Chair, where I had indulged the foregoing Speculations, with my Lamp burning by me, as usual. Whilst I was here meditating on several Subjects of Morality, and considering the Nature of many Virtues and Vices, as Materials for those Discourses with which I daily entertain the Publick; I saw, methought, a Pair of Golden Scales hanging by a Chain of the same Metal over the Table that stood before me; when on a sudden, there were great Heaps of Weights thrown down on each side of them. I found upon examining these Weights, they shewed the Value of every thing that is in Esteem among Men. I made an Essay of them, by putting the Weight of Wisdom in one Scale, and that of Riches in another, upon which the latter, to shew its comparative Lightness, immediately
flew up and kickt the Beam
.
But, before I proceed, I must inform my Reader, that these Weights did not exert their Natural Gravity, 'till they were laid in the Golden Ballance, insomuch that I could not guess which was light or heavy, whilst I held them in my Hand. This I found by several Instances; for upon my laying a Weight in one of the Scales, which was inscribed by the Word
Eternity
; tho' I threw in that of Time, Prosperity, Affliction, Wealth, Poverty, Interest, Success, with many other Weights, which in my Hand seemed very ponderous, they were not able to stir the opposite Ballance, nor could they have prevailed, though assisted with the Weight of the Sun, the Stars, and the Earth.
Upon emptying the Scales, I laid several Titles and Honours, with Pomps, Triumphs, and many Weights of the like Nature, in one of them, and seeing a little glittering Weight lie by me, I threw it accidentally into the other Scale, when, to my great Surprize, it proved so exact a Counterpoise, that it kept the Ballance in an Equilibrium. This little glittering Weight was inscribed upon the Edges of it with the Word
Vanity
. I found there were several other Weights which were equally Heavy, and exact Counterpoises to one another; a few of them I tried, as Avarice and Poverty, Riches and Content, with some others.
There were likewise several Weights that were of the same Figure, and seemed to Correspond with each other, but were entirely different when thrown into the Scales; as Religion and Hypocrisie, Pedantry and Learning, Wit and Vivacity, Superstition and Devotion, Gravity and Wisdom, with many others.
I observed one particular Weight lettered on both sides, and upon applying my self to the Reading of it, I found on one side written,
In the Dialect of Men
, and underneath it,
Calamities
; on the other side was written,
In the Language of the Gods
, and underneath,
Blessings
. I found the Intrinsick value of this Weight to be much greater than I imagined, for it overpowered Health, Wealth, Good Fortune, and many other Weights, which were much more ponderous in my Hand than the other.
There is a Saying among the
Scotch
, that an Ounce of Mother is worth a Pound of Clergy; I was sensible of the Truth of this Saying, when I saw the Difference between the Weight of Natural Parts, and that of Learning. The Observation which I made upon these two Weights opened to me a new Field of Discoveries, for notwithstanding the Weight of Natural Parts was much heavier than that of Learning; I observed that it weighed an hundred times heavier than it did before, when I put Learning into the same Scale with it. I made the same Observation upon Faith and Morality, for notwithstanding the latter out-weighed the former separately, it received a thousand times more additional Weight from its Conjunction with the former, than what it had by it self. This odd Phænomenon shewed it self, in other Particulars, as in Wit and Judgment, Philosophy and Religion, Justice and Humanity, Zeal and Charity, Depth of Sense and Perspicuity of Style, with innumerable other Particulars too long to be mentioned in this Paper.
As a Dream seldom fails of dashing Seriousness with Impertinence, Mirth with Gravity, methought I made several other Experiments of a more ludicrous Nature, by one of which I found that an
English
Octavo was very often heavier than a
French
Folio; and by another, that an old
Greek
or
Latin
Author weighed down a whole Library of Moderns. Seeing one of my
Spectators
lying by me, I laid it into one of the Scales, and flung a two-penny Piece into the other. The Reader will not enquire into the Event, if he remembers the first Tryal which I have recorded in this Paper. I afterwards threw both the Sexes into the Ballance; but as it is not for my Interest to disoblige either of them, I shall de
Sir
e to be excused from telling the Result of this Experiment. Having an Opportunity of this Nature in my Hands, I could not forbear throwing into one Scale the Principles of a Tory, and into the other those of a Whig; but as I have all along declared this to be a Neutral Paper, I shall likewise de
Sir
e to be silent under this Head also, though upon examining one of the Weights, I saw the Word
TEKEL
Engraven on it in Capital Letters.
I made many other Experiments, and though I have not Room for them all in this Day's Speculation, I may perhaps reserve them for another. I shall only add, that upon my awaking I was sorry to find my Golden Scales vanished, but resolved for the future to learn this Lesson from them, not to despise or value any Things for their Appearances, but to regulate my Esteem and Passions towards them according to their real and intrinsick Value.
C.
Footnote 1:
Paradise Lost
, end of Book IV.
return to footnote mark
Contents
Auream quisquis mediocritatemDiligit, tutus caret obsoletiSordibus tecti, caret invidendâSobrius aulâ.Hor.translation
I am wonderfully pleased when I meet with any Passage in an old
Greek
or
Latin
Author, that is not blown upon, and which I have never met with in a Quotation. Of this kind is a beautiful Saying in
Theognis
;
Vice is covered by Wealth, and Virtue by Poverty
; or to give it in the Verbal Translation,
Among Men there are some who have their Vices concealed by Wealth, and others who have their Virtues concealed by Poverty.
Every Man's Observation will supply him with Instances of Rich Men, who have several Faults and Defects that are overlooked, if not entirely hidden, by means of their Riches; and, I think, we cannot find a more Natural Description of a Poor Man, whose Merits are lost in his Poverty, than that in the Words of the Wise Man.
There was a little City, and a few Men within it; and there came a great King against it, and besieged it, and built great Bulwarks against it: Now there was found in it a poor Wise Man, and he, by his Wisdom, delivered the City; yet no Man remembered that same poor Man.Thensaid I, Wisdom is better than Strength; nevertheless, the poor Man's Wisdom is despised, and his Words are not heard.
1
The middle Condition seems to be the most advantageously situated for the gaining of Wisdom. Poverty turns our Thoughts too much upon the supplying of our Wants, and Riches upon enjoying our Superfluities; and, as
Cowley
has said in another Case,
It is hard for a Man to keep a steady Eye upon Truth, who is always in a Battel or a Triumph.
If we regard Poverty and Wealth, as they are apt to produce Virtues or Vices in the Mind of Man, one may observe, that there is a Set of each of these growing out of Poverty, quite different from that which rises out of Wealth. Humility and Patience, Industry and Temperance, are very often the good Qualities of a poor Man. Humanity and Good-nature, Magnanimity, and a Sense of Honour, are as often the Qualifications of the Rich. On the contrary, Poverty is apt to betray a Man into Envy, Riches into Arrogance. Poverty is too often attended with Fraud, vicious Compliance, Repining, Murmur and Discontent; Riches expose a Man to Pride and Luxury, a foolish Elation of Heart, and too great a Fondness for the present World. In short, the middle Condition is most eligible to the Man who would improve himself in Virtue; as I have before shewn, it is the most advantageous for the gaining of Knowledge. It was upon this Consideration that
Agur
founded his Prayer, which for the Wisdom of it is recorded in
Holy
Writ.
Two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me Vanity and Lies; give me neither Poverty, nor Riches; feed me with Food convenient for me. Lest I be full and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
2
I shall
fill
the remaining Part of my Paper with a very pretty Allegory, which is wrought into a Play
3
by
Aristophanes
the
Greek
Comedian. It seems originally designed as a Satyr upon the Rich, though, in some Parts of it, 'tis like the foregoing Discourse, a kind of Comparison between Wealth and Poverty.
Chremylus
, who was an old and a good Man, and withal exceeding Poor, being de
Sir
ous to leave some Riches to his Son, consults the Oracle of
Apollo
upon the Subject. The Oracle bids him follow the first Man he should see upon his going out of the Temple. The Person he chanced to see was to Appearance an old sordid blind Man, but upon his following him from Place to Place, he at last found by his own Confession, that he was
Plutus
the God of Riches, and that he was just come out of the House of a Miser.
Plutus
further told him, that when he was a Boy, he used to declare, that as soon as he came to Age he would distribute Wealth to none but virtuous and just Men; upon which
Jupiter
, considering the pernicious Consequences of such a Resolution, took his Sight away from him, and left him to strole about the World in the Blind Condition wherein
Chremylus
beheld him. With much ado
Chremylus
prevailed upon him to go to his House, where he met an old Woman in a tattered Raiment, who had been his Guest for many Years, and whose Name was
Poverty
. The old Woman refusing to turn out so easily as he would have her, he threatned to banish her not only from his own House, but out of all
Greece
, if she made any more Words upon the Matter.
Poverty
on this Occasion pleads her Cause very notably, and represents to her old Landlord, that should she be driven out of the Country, all their Trades, Arts and Sciences would be driven out with her; and that if every one was Rich, they would never be supplied with those Pomps, Ornaments and Conveniences of Life which made Riches de
Sir
able. She likewise represented to him the several Advantages which she bestowed upon her Votaries, in regard to their Shape, their Health, and their Activity, by preserving them from Gouts, Dropsies, Unweildiness, and Intemperance. But whatever she had to say for her self, she was at last forced to troop off.
Chremylus
immediately considered how he might restore
Plutus
to his Sight; and in order to it conveyed him to the Temple of
Æsculapius
, who was famous for Cures and Miracles of this Nature. By this means the Deity
recovered
his Eyes, and begun to make a right use of them, by enriching every one that
was
4
distinguished by Piety
towards
the Gods, and Justice towards
Men
5
and at the same time by taking away his Gifts from the Impious and Undeserving. This produces several merry Incidents, till in the last Act
Mercury
descends with great Complaints from the Gods, that since the Good Men were grown Rich they had received no Sacrifices, which is confirmed by a Priest of
Jupiter
, who enters with a Remonstrance, that since this late Innovation he was reduced to a starving Condition, and could not live upon his Office.